Bowser - Super Mario World (SNES)
On the map screen for World 7, you can actually catch a preview of Bowser flying around on top of his castle as lightning strikes. Even so, when you finally reach the Koopa King, it may come as a surprise to see Mario's arch enemy riding what is known as the Koopa Clown Car. And yet, Bowser makes it work.
Bowser comes at you in three phases and during each phase, he always throws Mecha Koopas at you. You could spin jump these guys to dispatch of them instantly, but you really don't want to do that since these things are your only means to attacking Bowser. What you wanna do is jump on the normally and then toss them upwards so they conk Bowser on the noggin. After hitting him two times, Bowser will retreat and you'll get to see some sweet mode seven effects as he comes directly at the screen in his Koopa Clown Car. Just before Bowser comes back into view, he'll try to burn you with flames that are tossed from the above. Stand in the right position and you should be fine. When Bowser returns, princess Peach will briefly emerge from the Clown Car to do a damsel in distress bit and toss you a Super Mushroom, which can come in handy in case you lost any of your power-ups.
During the second phase, Bowser flies a bit lower and while touching the rest of the Clown Car is fine, contact with the propeller will hurt you. That Clown Car must be mighty spacious because not only does it hold Bowser, Peach and a horde of Mecha Koopas, but it also houses these huge bowling ball-like things called Big Seelies. You can use a normal jump to avoid these things but a spin jump but spin jumps protect you from these things and are less risky. Hit Bowser with two Mecha Koopas and he'll retreat once again.
In the final phase of the battle, the Koopa Clown Car stops wearing a smile and takes on a much more menacing look that greatly reflects Bowser's combat tactics. Bowser is done flying and now proceeds to try and crush you, hoping atop the castle grounds. In addition to to avoid the Clown Car, Bowser still assaults you with the Big Steelies. Sock Bowser with two Mecha Koopas and you'll have saved the princess and Dinosaur Land.
Terminator - Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
As far as I know, the boss of the third stage of Contra III, Neo Steel Kobe Factory has no official name but since he resembles a robot from one of the greatest film series of all-time, I found it best to give him that namesake.
After defeating the final mini bosses of this level, the Terminator makes his entrance by tearing open the walls in the background. And for his next trick, he fires lasers from his eyes that like to track you down. On higher difficulty settings, these things can be problematic. The blast of fire that he shoots from his mouth will chase you all across the room. As you've probably learned from you encounter with the mini bosses in this very room, you can not only crawl on the walls but you can also move across the ceiling as well, which will prove very useful to help you avoid be scorched. Terminator's final attacks is a series of bombs that count down. Depending on where you happen to be, these things will be launched on the top or bottom of the screen. His head is his only weak point and it's exposed throughout the majority of the battle, save for when he drops bombs and goes into hiding during the countdown explosion. Not content to simply blow up upon defeat, Terminator leaves the way he came with the wall that he used as a door closing, decapitating him. Pure awesome.
Armon Ritter - Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
Treasure's on rails shooter has many a crazy boss fight but pudgy Armon Ritter really makes himself stand out. He may be a baddie in a suit, but he's the kind that is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Channeling his inner Seven Force, Armon Ritter is a changeling, taking on three different forms of aquatic life.
His first form is that of a manta ray, firing off rounds of blobs, missiles and get this, even jet fighters your way. One he starts taking on massive damage in this form, he throws vertical beams into the mix. As if you didn't already have enough stuff to avoid.
The second form is a seahorse that starts his attacks by shooting energy spheres that break off into small pieces. In addition to this, he's also got lasers that can home in on you. Need things to be more hectic? He also creates walls of water that sway back and forth that you need to dodge while he chucks explosives your way that may or may not go off.
His last parlor trick is to turn into a dolphin, which I find to be the most difficult of his three forms. Other dolphins will be summoned to fight along side the real Ritter and true to other video game clone fighting logic, you can only harm the real thing, but all of them can hurt you. The dolphins will create rings which you can fly through for bonus points but unless you go through the ring without touching it, you can kiss some of your health goodbye. And since dolphins just love to perform tricks, they'll flip a lot of balls your way but these can thankfully be deflected back.
The Great Mighty Poo- Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64, XB)
If you don't like toilet humor, you may not find this next boss all that amusing. I'm willing to admit that I'm not always fond of this particular method to make people laugh but this boss just made it work for me on so many levels.
After ascending a huge pile of fecal matter, you're faced with a boss that will make you scream "OH CRAP!" and I do mean that quite literally. The Great Mighty Poo is exactly what he sounds like. A huge, steaming pile of crap. That in itself is a sight to behold and is enough to win an award for inducing more slack-jawed stares than anything else on this planet. What The Great Mighty Poo lacks in looks, he makes up for in the vocal department. He has a thing for opera and man, can he belt out some notes. I thought my appreciation for opera in the gaming medium came and went with Final Fantasy VI and Parasite Eve but the Great and Migty Poo brought it back.
But as amazing as his singing number is, the Great Mighty Poo still has it out for you. Unless you take him out, he's going to take your head and ram it up his butt. I have every reason to believe he'll make good on that promise because he started out his course by saying that he was going to throw his crap at me. I've dodged a lot of things in my time playing video games. Lasers, fire balls, energy blasts but I never thought the day would come where I'd have to avoid balls of feces.
So how does one going about dealing with a opera singer made out of feces? Butt paper, of course! The Great and Mighty Poo cannot stand toilet paper down his throat so you'll have to chuck a few rolls in while he's singing. After taking so many rolls, his singing will eventually shatter a glass wall that hides a valve. Pull it and the Great and Mighty Poo will be flushed.
Great Eggman Robo - Sonic 3 & Knuckles (GEN)
The previous two Genesis Sonic games had some of the best final encounters with Robotnik in the mainstream Sonic series. While this technically isn't the final battle of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it's still light years ahead of every boss battle in Sonic 1 and 2 combined, taking place through three different stages.
The first stage of the fight has you contending with the hands, or to be more precise, the fingers. There are three fingers on each hand and both with try to crush you when they get close enough. You can jump on them, spin dash between both sets of fingers to register multiple hits, or keep spin dashing when they try to crush you so they take damage. I really like the diversity in this first phase.
Once all the fingers have been destroyed, stage two begins. The platform starts to collapse as Robotnik presses towards you with his towering mech. Fireballs will be shot towards you from the nose and these are quite easy to evade. What you really need to watch out for is the laser fire. He uses the power of the Master Emerald to charge up and shoot a huge laser beam your way. As the laser charges, this is your chance to jump in and do some damage to the machine. Be speedy when attacking because it doesn't take long for the laser to charge up. You cannot spam hits on this thing. If you try, you'll get hit by the laser or fall to your death. Hit it once and keep running to the right. If you have the AI controlling Tails, use extreme caution to make sure it doesn't screw you over by mimicking your actions a second later. Without question, this is the toughest part of this fight.
After taking eight hits, Eggman will make an attempt to flee with the Master Emerald as the platform continues to fall away. Chase after him, and hit him. Just make sure you time your jumps correctly or the knock back from hitting egghead could send you too far.
Awesome Boss Battles Database
2 comments:
I think my favorite is giant bowser from Yoshi's Island
That's one of my favorites as well. I mentioned it in an earlier post in this series.
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